Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace MIT3107/3207/M207 Gary Stringer Creative Media and Information Technology University of Exeter, UK Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace: MIT3107/3207/M207 Gary Stringer Copyright © 2006-2008 Gary Stringer / University of Exeter Abstract Module Purpose. This CMIT module can be taken for 15 or 20 credits, at level 3 or level M. It examines the role of the Internet in today's society, and discusses the problems the information society is bringing about. Legal Notice The right of Gary Stringer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Some rights reserved: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 United Kingdom . You are free: • to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work • to make derivative works Under the following conditions: BY - Attribution You must give the original author credit. NC - Non-Commercial You may not use this work for commercial purposes. SA - Share Alike If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one. • For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. • Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Your fair use and other rights are in no way affected by the above. This is a human-readable summary of the Legal Code (the full licence) [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/legalcode]. Please also read the Disclaimer [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/disclaimer-popup?lang=en_GB] Table of Contents Preface ...................................................................................................................... v 1. Education and Research .......................................................................................... 1 Higher Education ............................................................................................... 1 The Internet in Schools ...................................................................................... 8 2. The Virtual Marketplace ....................................................................................... 11 Trends in the Digital Economy ......................................................................... 11 Evolution of E-commerce ................................................................................. 14 Virtual Products and New Economies ................................................................ 15 iTunes and the Virtual Product .......................................................................... 16 Web Advertising .............................................................................................. 17 Something for Nothing? Gift Economies ........................................................... 17 Problems arising from the Virtual Marketplace .................................................. 18 Further reading ................................................................................................. 19 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 19 3. The Information Society ....................................................................................... 21 Social theory and the Internet ........................................................................... 21 Work in the Information Society ....................................................................... 23 Equality and Human Rights .............................................................................. 25 Singularity Theory and Inhumanism .................................................................. 29 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 30 4. Legal Issues 1 ...................................................................................................... 31 Patents and the Digital World ........................................................................... 31 Domain Name Piracy or Cybersquatting ............................................................ 33 Copyright Law ................................................................................................. 34 The Public Domain and Finite Copyright ........................................................... 35 Practical Considerations .................................................................................... 37 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 41 5. Legal Issues 2 ...................................................................................................... 43 The need for security ....................................................................................... 43 Cryptography ................................................................................................... 45 Computer Crime and Legislation ....................................................................... 49 Content Regulation ........................................................................................... 51 Privacy and Data Protection .............................................................................. 52 Further reading ................................................................................................. 53 6. Intelligence and Ubiquity ...................................................................................... 55 What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)? .................................................................. 55 Uses of AI on the Internet ................................................................................ 56 Autonomous Agents, Crawlers and Bots ............................................................ 58 AI today and tomorrow .................................................................................... 61 The Ubiquitous Computer ................................................................................. 62 7. Cyberspace Philosophy ......................................................................................... 65 What is Cyberspace? ........................................................................................ 65 The Shape of Cyberspace ................................................................................. 65 Knowledge and the Internet .............................................................................. 67 Cyberspace and Responsibility .......................................................................... 69 iii Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace Is cyberspace really a space? ............................................................................ 69 8. The Future of Cyberspace ..................................................................................... 73 The Internet as a Technological Revolution ....................................................... 73 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 75 Glossary of Terms .................................................................................................... 81 Index ....................................................................................................................... 83 iv Preface As the Internet grows, it begins to have an impact not just on the way we use our computers, but on the way we live our lives too. The effects of mass communication are already apparent in the way we inhabit the “global village”, but these are just the beginnings of a massive social and cultural change. We are moving towards an information society. This module looks at how the Internet has already changed the world for almost everone in it. It examines the benefits, problems, and moral dilemmas that the Internet has presented, and looks to a future where the Internet will be even more ubiquitous and influential. GBS v vi Chapter 1. Education and Research One of the earliest visions of networked, hyperlinked information was based around the concept of a library, designed for education and research (Bush 1945). This rôle has been in the forefront of the development of the Internet for most of its history, only recently being superceded by commerce as its major driving force. So how can the Internet help us learn? Higher Education • self-directed learning • content delivery - web-based notes and lectures • content negotiation - online seminars, tutorials and feedback In higher education, the emphasis for learning is providing self-motivated students the means for self-directed learning, as well as providing learning content in the form of lectures or notes. The Internet can facilitate each of these areas, both for face-to-face learners and over long distances. Delivering learning content effectively • Online course notes allow easy access to course content • “Taking notes” becomes “making annotations” The process of learning, whether online or in a traditional, face-to-face environment, involves two basic operations. The first, content delivery, concerns the effective dissemination of knowledge, in the form of lecture notes, reading materials and other information. The content may be verbal (lectures), textual (books, handouts, web pages) or multimedia (audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs, podcasts, streamed media), but is primarily a one-way transfer of knowledge from the tutor to the student.